Thursday, February 14, 2019

A Valentine Tradition

by Karen Rose Smith

Many couples have Valentine's Day traditions and my husband and I are no exception. We have been married for 47 years and we've followed our tradition for 46 of those years. We leave each other little mementos the seven days before Valentine's Day. It started like this.

After our son was born, I had post-partum depression, though no one was diagnosing it or treating it all those years ago. I was 22 and had never been around infants. At the hospital, the nurse put the baby in my arms and left. Young mothers were supposed to know what to do. My husband was a great support and totally involved with the care of our child. He was way ahead of his time! But motherhood was a life-changing event and hormones that took a while to settle down caused the "baby blues" to take hold.

That year, my husband started our tradition. The seven days before Valentine's Day, he left me a card, a candy bar with a love note, a rose, a poem or a trinket he felt would bring me a smile. Those little caring mementos surrounded me with love. No, they didn't fix the post-partum depression. But they gave me his loving support to hold onto while I waded through it.

The following year, I left him mementos too--tucked a note into his wallet to find at work, cooked a favorite supper, found something to give him that would make him smile. We do this every year. It brings back memories and makes new ones. This year, all my gifts were accompanied with a cat-themed card...and most of the gifts were cat-related...with the exception of the chocolate-covered Oreo!